1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor manufacturing system, and more particularly, to an aligner for transferring a minute pattern, such as a semiconductor integrated circuit pattern.
2. Description of the Background Art
A scan stepper has hitherto been employed as an aligner at the time of forming a minute pattern such as a semiconductor integrated circuit, during semiconductor manufacturing processes.
A conventional aligner will be now described.
FIG. 5 is a conceptual view for describing a conventional aligner, and FIG. 6 is a conceptual view for describing exposing operation performed with the conventional aligner.
As shown in FIG. 5, reference numeral 101 designates an illumination optical system: 102 designates a reticle serving as an original transfer plate; 103 designates a projection optical system; and 104 designates a semiconductor substrate serving as a substrate on which a pattern is to be transferred.
In the aligner shown in FIG. 5, the illumination optical system 101 and the projection optical system 103 are fixed. While exposing operation is performed, the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104 are moved in synchronism with each other.
In more detail, as shown in FIG. 6, the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104 are moved over a slit-shaped exposing region 110, whereby a pattern 120 of the reticle 102 corresponding to the exposing region 110 is transferred onto the semiconductor substrate 104.
By means of moving the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104, the pattern 120 of the reticle 102, which extends beyond the exposing region 110, is transferred onto the semiconductor substrate 104.
However, in the above conventional aligner, a pattern 120 is exposed onto the semiconductor substrate 4 by means of moving the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104 in a synchronous manner in one direction. During a period between a single exposing operation for single shot (i.e., a single scanning operation) and the next exposing operation, the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104 are moved in the reverse direction.
For this reason, the conventional aligner must accelerate and decelerate the reticle 102 and the semiconductor substrate 104 for every scanning operation. Therefore, great stress is generated in the aligner.
The accuracy of pattern transfer is deteriorated by distortion or vibration ascribable to the stress.
The present invention has been conceived to solve the previously-mentioned problems and a general object of the present invention is to provide a novel and useful aligner for forming a semiconductor substrate by means of exposing, and is to provide a novel and useful method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using an aligner.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an aligner that forms a pattern on a semiconductor substrate with high accuracy.
A more specific another object of the present invention is to form a pattern on a semiconductor substrate with high accuracy by use of an aligner.
The above objects of the present invention are attained by a following aligner for forming a pattern on a semiconductor substrate by means of exposing, and by a following method of manufacturing a semiconductor device using an aligner.
According to one aspect of the present invention, aligner for forming a pattern on a semiconductor substrate by means of exposing comprises a rotation shaft; an illumination optical system which is revolved around the rotation shaft and emanates exposure light; a reticle through which the exposure light originating from the illumination optical system is passed; and a projection optical system which is revolved around the rotation shaft such that a relative positional relationship between the illumination optical system and the projection optical system is maintained, and the projection optical system projects the light passed through the reticle onto the semiconductor substrate.
In the aligner for forming a pattern on a semiconductor substrate by means of exposing, while exposing operation is performed, the illumination optical system and the projection optical system are revolved around the rotation shaft.
Therefore, there is obviated a necessity of moving the reticle back and forth for a single shot of exposing, which would otherwise be required by the conventional aligner. Thus, generation of stress can be prevented in the aligner, thereby enabling highly-accurate exposing of a pattern.
According to another aspect of the present invention, in a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device using aligner, exposure light is emanated onto a reticle from an illumination optical system, and the illumination optical system revolving around a rotation shaft in an emanation step. Next, the light passed through the reticle is projected onto a semiconductor substrate by way of a projection optical system, and the projection optical system revolving around the rotation shaft such that a relative positional relationship between the illumination optical system and the projection optical system is maintained in a projection step.
In the method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, generation of stress can be prevented in the aligner, thereby enabling highly-accurate exposing of a pattern, as well as the above-mentioned aligner.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.